Ahead of today’s special mining lottery, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment yesterday said blocks of land up for distribution in Region Nine are not within Amerindian titled lands or within areas proposed for extension to titled lands.
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) has confirmed that all mining lands identified for the lottery within the region are under its management, the Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
According to the Ministry, the GGMC has noted efforts by a few individuals, who themselves were involved in illegal mining, “to spread misinformation and misrepresent” its efforts to regulate the mining sector and to provide more mining lands for legitimate miners.
Miners who are not already concession holders would be eligible to participate in the lottery, where five 100-acre blocks, in each of the six mining communities will be up for grabs as long as applicants meet criteria set by the GGMC.
In Region Nine, the Rupununi Miners Association (RMA) recently urged the minister to honour a promise to allot parcels in the lottery to persons who were found mining illegally at Marudi Mountain, saying that he had made a promise to do so. Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud, however, has denied promising parcels of land for persons who have been illegally mining at Marudi Mountain, saying there would be no preference for illegal miners.
